"We've prepared this Giro very well" - Visma's road captain and Vingegaard's right-hand man Campenaerts confirms team readiness
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Team Visma | Lease a Bike have the most responsibility entering the 2026 Giro d'Italia and Jonas Vingegaard will be able to count on the support of his right-hand man Victor Campenaerts. The Belgian is once again next to his leader for another Grand Tour and warns that the Dutch team is prepared to figh for the win.
"I would say Jonas has been very relaxed at training camp. Of course, he had a good start to the season, winning Paris-Nice and Catalunya, which is always good," Campenaerts shared with Cyclingnews ahead of the Grande Partenza.
All the signs are positive for the Dane who, aside from a small crash and illness in early February that had him skip the UAE Tour, has had a virtually spotless spring. His performances at Paris-Nice and Catalunya were convincing, whilst there were no mishaps in the month leading up to today's start of the Corsa Rosa on the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria.
"If you already have victories, it makes it more relaxed, and we just had a very good time," he assures. "It often surprises me that people think it's all super serious for us, but actually, we have a lot of fun. Of course, we do all of the right things, but it doesn't mean that we cannot make a joke at the dining table".
Aside from Vingegaard's success, Wout Van Aert's victory in Roubaix further improved the team's motivation this spring. With Vingegaard entering as the main favourite and having the chance to conclude his set of Grand Tours, there is a stronger purpose to win this race than most.
"We've prepared this Giro very well. We did a long altitude camp together, and this is our second really important goal as a team. Of course, we first had the Monuments, which we succeeded in quite well with Wout winning Roubaix. I was not part of that, but this is the really important second goal of the team, and we are ready."
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Relationship with Jonas Vingegaard
After racing Paris-Nice, the Dauphiné, the Tour and the Vuelta alongside the Dane last year, there were no doubts left. Campenaerts was a perfect signing for Visma. He quickly and smoothly fit in the team's hierarchy, and became Vingegaard's personal domestique for the flat and hilly days.
His height means that swapping bikes comes with no risks; whilst his experience and ability as a rouleur and classics specialist makes him a very important rider when it comes to Vingegaard's positioning.
His daily vlogs at the Tour de France also showed a good environment in the team, and the Belgian felt like a breath of fresh air in the Dutch team. His attention to detail and commitment to improving as a cyclist is also almost second to none - as shown by his extreme sleeping schedules he recently talked about - and boosts the team's level overall.
What also helps is his good relationship with Jonas Vingegaard. "I would say close is relative. It's not like when we are in the off-season that we go out for dinners with our families, or we fly from Denmark to Belgium in the opposite way. But we do quite a few races together, and we have a good match with my capabilities as a domestique helping him to win races, so that's always good."
Whilst the Dane is a debutant at the Corsa Rosa, Campenaerts takes on his sixth. But this will be a new experience altogether.
"There aren't so many secrets about it. Yes, I did it five times, but also in none of those five times was I a GC rider or a GC domestique, so it's quite hard to give him good advice in that sense. Of course, it is known that in Giro there are always some tough days with the weather predictions, but what can you do," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Seriously do you think when somebody gets into a serious accident, the ambulance is called by the hurt person?🤦 there is always a buddy system in place for a risky job. police , firefighters etc so that if someone gets hurt, the other call that in.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
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